The Longhorns and Cowboys play Saturday on CBS

Are you ready for a Big 12 battle featuring two rivals trying to build some momentum. It's Oklahoma State at Texas at 1 p.m. Saturday.

In the increasingly impossible-to-predict Big 12, the stakes are high for the middle of the pack clubs across the country -- and in the conference -- still vying for NCAA Tournament inclusion. So this Oklahoma State-Texas game is a big one, in particular for the hometown Horns.

Texas has been just as enigmatic as the league overall this season, and fits somewhere in the gushy middle among teams who have been a tick above average this season. It won its first two to open league play, then lost three straight. It won against a really good OU team (at the time), then lost two straight. Then it beat Kansas.

The Longhorns have been trending up overall of late, however. They've won two of three as they enter the weekend, including over league-contending Baylor and league-doormat West Virginia, and have a chance Saturday to get above .500 in league play. On paper, it should be an easier-than-anticipated victory.

Oklahoma State comes in having lost four straight overall, and seven straight in conference play dating back to Jan. 14. After losing three scholarship players last month in a house-cleaning of sorts, the Cowboys are limping into Saturday with seven scholarship players. A walk-on and a former player-manager both saw minutes in their last lump-taking, which came Wednesday at the hands of Texas Tech.

Game prediction, pick

Oklahoma State took out Texas 61-58 the last time these two squads played. And while Texas hasn't shown marked improvement since then, Oklahoma State has shown marked deterioration. Horns by double digits is a virtual lock. Pick: Texas 75, Oklahoma State 60